Author: Sabaa Tahir& Steve West
Publication Date: April 28,
2015
Goodreads Synopsis
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow
their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones
and the destruction of all they hold dear.
It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her
grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the
Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve
seen what happens to those who do.
But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a
decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother,
she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest
military academy.
There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most
unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to
enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and
that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.
the plot builds slowly to allow the author to build his/her book universe. Book-verse? Is that a word? Oh well, I’m going with it. While normally it takes an author time to
build their book-verse, An Ember in the
Ashes is an exception. We, the
readers, are literally thrown into the action as if dropped into the middle of
an ongoing story. From that point, you
and the characters are pulled along with the current of events that have
already been fated.
getting bogged down by it. The story
appears straight forward, young people surviving and discovering themselves;
but, not all things are as they seem.
Riveting, surprising, and gut-wrenching are understatements.
got the next two.
character, because honestly there are so many, and they are so interwoven, I
don’t know how to do it without spoilers.
I will say, however, that they are beautifully flawed, with surprising
strengths and weaknesses. The main
villains and heroes are pretty easily recognizable, but the good and the evil
identities of the remaining characters are a mystery and ever evolving.
Review…
accents, inflections, and vocal eccentricities could have been impossible, but Fiona Hardingham and Steve West make it
seem effortless.
Lines…
has swooped down to smother you in its cold arms.”
Leave a Reply